Westminstenders: PreGrades (Minority Report comes to the UK)

[RedToothBrush]

In Aug 2020, London, DC's prototype 'PreGrades' launched from the education department stops plebs before they go to university, reducing the social mobility rate to zero percent. Social mobility is predicted using specialized mutated humans, called "Teachers", who "predict" grades by marking shit lots of course work and exams over a period of years. Would-be social climbers are knocked down in a computer algorithm which distorts reality and hits the disadvantaged hardest. Central government is on the verge of adopting the controversial program nationwide by applying it in all departments from the DWP, the Home Office, the Department of Health and the Department of Justice to predict benefit fraud, getting sick asylum seeking and crime before it occurs.

DC's vision of the future is based on excellence being genetically ingrained into the elite but he must sell this vision to the unsuspecting public in a series of public votes which rely on the idea of the 'undeserving'. Little do they know that they too will be the victims of this plan until a mysterious bug appears and only the wealthy and well connected are able to get hold of adequate PPE and they are no longer able to buy bog roll nor retire to Spain as they had previously and endless queues for pizza form near Kent.

Mship
Kid I know was rejected on the basis of the algorithm
so accepted her second choice.
The top choice Uni has not re opened the offer
yet

and how the hell can they make this a bulge year with social distancing
its an utter shower of shit

Andy Burnham is not giving up a legal challenge until BTEC students are included in the U turn. He has been very impressive in this fiasco.

Yay! That pesky B gone and that other A* restored! It didn't matter as Dgd got firm and insurance but her pride is a bit restored though she would have rather sat the exams so her grades were really her grades!
She is, however, ecstatic for friends that did not get uni place and hoping that they eventually (after navigating this needless mess) get to go to uni!

Delighted for your DGD @Sostenueto
She worked so hard. Glad to see it rewarded

Great news sos

Guess posh kids don't take BTecs?
Ffs.

Reading the bbc article about kids who now think they will be able to get their first choice. Theres one who wanted to do media at Sheffield. When i went to uni, media at Sheffield and Leeds were amongst the most over subscribed courses in the entire country. Something like 30 applications to 1 place. The kid in question cant get through to admissions but im pretty damn sure hes going to face yet more disappointment...

ListeningQuietly It's only been a little over 3 hours since the U-turn was announced, most of which is after normal working hours, and the university will be scrambling to figure out WTF to do on insufficient information. They don't know the CAGs, they only have the UCAS predictions. They need to estimate how many students are likely to qualify for each course, how many are likely to want to change if they've already accepted another offer, and what the potential is for increasing staff/building capacity to manage. Most of the relevant staff will be WFH. It's a shit show all around, but don't jump the gun.

Some students will still be disappointed, and in some cases the best the university will be able to do is the offer of an unconditional place in 2021, which will not work for many.

Guess posh kids don't take BTecs which is why Keir Starmer and more in Labour need to be standing up for them.

absolutely 💯

My Ds is a current Y10 so has 'missed' this shitshow.
But he hasn't because he's missed ALL his course content post March.
He is on FSM.
I don't like the look of next summer, tbh as I'm sure there will be disruption over the winter period (even if Covid doesn't 'peak' again then there will be lots of quarantining as Tests not avail / turn out bad)
Absolute Bastards !!!

@RedToothBrush's opening statement is all too true :(

I know quite a few posh kids who have taken btechs .......

Thanks all for congrats!

Interesting advertising strategy from Douglas Ross/the Scottish Conservatives. Demonstrates who they are as their target voting constituency

Needless to say, I've hidden the ad

Who they see as their target market - bloody autocarrot

I took a bTec in Graphic Design and was accepted unconditionally at my local polytechnic which is now part of Newcastle University. It has a great reputation. Strange things do happen. I really do hope all comes out in the wash for these students. DD is only 8 but suffers from anxiety so we have all had some shit to deal with this year. Well before lockdown, however, I was hoping the leavers didn't get screwed over. Pretty sure my DD will make it up in the next decade.

Surprise, surprise.

Gavin Williamson seeks to blame Ofqual for exams debacle

www.theguardian.com/education/2020/aug/17/gavin-williamson-seeks-blame-ofqual-exams-debacle-a-level-gcse

Tory Peer - and female Grayling - Dido Harding to run agency replacing PHE

Her record is comparable to Grayling's

Also, if the government are attempting to copy germany's RKI, then they've totally misunderstood how it works and what it does
e.g. that it depends on the equivalent of local authorities, counties and regions all having most public health powers, totally unlike the grossly centralised English / UK system
and a network of 300 labs around the country
and .....

www.theguardian.com/society/2020/aug/17/dido-harding-to-run-agency-to-replace-public-health-england

Covid-19 climbdowns: the UK government's U-turns and missteps

Depressing reading - and I'd add twice choosing DIdo Harding to be responsible for critical tasks 🤦🏻‍♀️

1. track & trace
2. the successor to PHE

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2020/jun/19/covid-19-climbdowns-the-uk-governments-u-turns-and-missteps

Claims of ‘world-beating’ response tarnished by reversals on everything from testing to A-level results

Thats a pretty blunt cover...

... Yes that IS the Daily Mail.

Times running this on its cover too

It follows a similar U-turn by the Scottish government. MPs believe Mr Williamson will ultimately get the boot when the Prime Minister reshuffles his Cabinet this autumn. Former ministers insisted he should go now, saying his position was 'completely untenable'. One added: 'He can't hang around until autumn. He is a lame duck now.' Tory MP George Freeman called the situation a 'shambles'. Other MPs predicted that Boris Johnson would wait before sacking Mr Williamson, with the Education Secretary likely to cling on until later in the year 'to take the rap for GCSE results and any chaos that arises when schools reopen'. The Tory discontent came as a poll showed that the public think Mr Williamson - who has already presided over the failure to get children back to school before the end of the summer - should quit over the A-levels fiasco by a proportion of two to one.

From the lead story on the dailymail website.

Incredible Fail front page with a (former ?) Tory darling as PM

He needs to sack Williamson promptly, or he'll be sharing the blame

Do English Unis have the capacity, even if the govt cough up money ?

‪‪Lewis Goodall Retweeted Alasdair Clark@alasdairclark‬‬

‪‪Key thing missing from this u-turn compared Scotland, as ‬*@lewisgoodall*‬
‪‪ points out. ‬‬

‪‪Scottish Government committed to ensuring no one was crowded out of a place at uni because of the changes.‬‬

‪‪Still to get details of what that means, ‬‬
‪‪but haven’t seen UK Gov have done the same?‬‬